Mothers For Peace Pushes To Shut Down Diablo

5 Years Sooner Than Current PG&E Proposal

On Friday January 27, San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace (SLOMFP), through Ojai-based attorney Sabrina Venskus submitted expert testimony to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) showing that Diablo Canyon should be closed in 2019, not 2024, because it is becoming unsafe and unreliable.

"Diablo Canyon was designed in the mid-1960s. Some of its parts are as dated as rabbit ears on a black and white TV. This atomic power reactor is old and tired, and it is not reliable or safe. The faster Diablo Canyon closes, the safer Californians will be,” stated Mr. Gundersen. Replacement costs for these outmoded parts at Diablo Canyon during the next 7 to 8 years are well in excess of a reasonable investment for a plant that is scheduled to shut down in 2024. Mr. Gundersen’s testimony also illuminates the degraded condition of tens of thousands of often neglected switches, plates, springs, shock absorbers, pipes, and other components of this aged atomic power reactor that are in danger of failing well before 2024.

The companies that own nuclear reactors have a tendency to defer needed maintenance and replacement of worn parts when permanent closure is imminent. Called “running to failure,” the operator tends to take a chance that the part won’t fail before the plant closes down. In an old car that is ready for the junkyard the owner won’t replace worn tires with ones that are guaranteed for 50,000 miles. Instead, he will take a chance that the tires won’t blow out before the old car is junked. If there’s a blowout in a tire, it can be hazardous. If there’s a failure of an essential component of a nuclear power plant, the costs of replacement or of repair of damage can be huge.

Mr. Gundersen’s testimony, attached below, cites numerous parts and components at Diablo Canyon that have been listed in the 2017 Rate Case by Pacific Gas and Electric as in need of replacement. In Mr. Gundersen’s opinion, shutting the doors of the two reactors makes sense in 2019, before parts and components are forced to run to failure.

SLOMFP is commenting as a party to the California Public Utilities Commission’s proceedings on the Joint Proposal reached in June of 2016 between PG&E and several environmental groups and unions. SLOMFP has also submitted expert testimony to the CPUC by David Jackson, Ph.D. regarding seismic damage to the plant in case of an earthquake. SLOMFP has joined with Women’s Energy Matters of Marin County regarding timing and costs of replacing the needed power at Diablo Canyon with renewable energy, using the testimony of energy analyst Robert Freehling. SLOMFP compiled documents regarding the environmental effects of Once-Through Cooling on aquatic life around the facility. By co-sponsoring a portion of the testimony by the Alliance for Nuclear Responsibility’s attorney Al Pak, SLOMFP is objecting to PG&E’s request to recover the costs of its relicensing application filed with the Nuclear Regulatory Commission in 2009, but later withdrawn.

Renewables Could Replace Diablo Energy in 3,

not 9 Years – Study Shows

Women's Energy Matters (WEM) filed an intervention in the Diablo CPUC proceeding last Friday calling for early shutdown of the plant, arguing that replacement of Diablo's power with GHG-free energy sources can happen now, not years from now.

The filing by WEM’s Jean Meerrigan attached Robert Freehling's report, Clean Energy Replacement for California's Retiring Nuclear Plants. Pages 15-21 of Freehling’s Report contains a critique of pro-nuke fear-based arguments that have gotten way too much press in recent months.

AVILA BEACH – As a joint proposal concerning the future of PG&E’s Diablo Canyon Power Plant (DCPP) continues to move through the state’s review process, the energy company stated that it is looking forward to carefully reviewing and replying to written responses on the agreement that various groups submitted today to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) for consideration.

Under the established review schedule for the joint proposal, groups participating in the state’s review process had until Jan. 27, 2017, to submit their responses to the CPUC. PG&E and the joint proposal parties will reply by March 17, 2017.

If approved by the CPUC, the joint proposal would increase investment in energy efficiency and renewables beyond current state mandates, while phasing out PG&E’s production of nuclear power in California by 2025. Read more

Expert Witness On Earthquakes Calls For The Soonest Possible Closure Of Diablo Canyon

On Friday January 27, San Luis Obispo Mothers for Peace (SLOMFP) through Ojai-based attorney Sabrina Venskus submitted expert testimony to the California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) showing that Diablo Canyon should be closed in 2019, not 2024, because it is becoming unsafe and unreliable.

One of two expert witnesses for SLOMFP is David D. Jackson, Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences at UCLA. In his testimony Dr. Jackson explains the many types of seismic damage to the plant in case of an earthquake. Among his assertions is that the substantial risk of earthquakes at Diablo Canyon nuclear plant has been underestimated, and that the seismic studies relied upon evaluate only a part of the risk which affects any decision of how long to continue operation of the two Diablo Canyon reactors.

Among Dr. Jackson’s criticisms of the seismic studies published by PG&E in 2015 is that, “Uncertainties of the fault location from the small earthquake data allow the possibility that the Shoreline Fault actually lies directly beneath DCNPP.”

Fairewinds Chief Engineer Arnie Gundersen and Research Assistant Grayson Webb discuss how the atomic power industry tries to sell the world its false narrative that it helps reduce Global CO2. In this interview, Arnie and Grayson discuss Fairewinds 18-month research endeavor that found using atomic reactors would reduce CO2 emissions only 6% by the year 2050 and cost more than $8.2 Trillion! Renewable and sustainable energy sources are much cheaper and will also boost the US economy as it creates real jobs in America.

The main culprit, Southern California Edison, is trying all its options for sticking it to either the ratepayers, or the manufacturer of the faulty steam generators that caused San Onofre’s shutdown in 2013, or both.

As San Diego attorneys Mia Severson and Mike Agurrie’s relentless work has shown, the shutdown deal to screw the ratepayers was drafted on cocktail napkins in secret, illegal ex parte meetings in a posh Warsaw hotel by Edison officials and then CPUC President Mike Peevey, who subsequently stepped down in disgrace.

At the moment, Japan's Mitsubishi Heavy Industries is awaiting an arbitration decision from the International Chamber of Commerce about Edison’s $7.6 billion claim against them for the failed steam generators, one of which came with a 20-year warrenty.